City council committee discusses capital improvement plan

Plan would set priorities on city's equipment purchases

ANDERSON - Anderson city manager John Moore on Wednesday gave the city council's finance committee a list of what capital improvements and equipment purchases need to be made.

He proposed a five-year plan that includes the purchase of equipment and the construction of a city fire substation, near the Anderson Civic Center, and a public works complex.

Moore called those building projects "wish list" items that are more long-term possibilities. But he and the city's finance department employees also presented a list of the city's more immediate needs to the committee.

Currently, the city needs about $1.1 million in equipment, including police patrol cars, mowers and dump trucks, this year and the next fiscal year.

The city's finance staff said the purchases for the 2012-13 fiscal year could be made using $626,000 from the general fund, $50,000 from the city's perpetual care fund, $73,300 from the hospitality fund and $230,000 from the storm water fund.

Money spent from specific funds, such as the hospitality fund or the perpetual care fund for the city's cemeteries, could be used only to purchase equipment for those specific departments.

City staff members have spent the last three weeks looking at the city's equipment needs, and then looking at ways the council could make those purchases when revenue coming into the general fund is flat or decreasing.

Moore and the city staff proposed using $625,000 in money that the city has saved in the last four years to pay for the general fund expenditures.

"Right now, the general fund is struggling to have enough money to pay for capital expenditures that the city needs," Moore said, explaining why the city's finance staff is suggesting using other funds to pay for some equipment.

The finance committee's four members, Anderson Mayor Terence Roberts, and Council members Steve Kirven, Beatrice Thompson, Chuck Anderson, were all at the meeting.

The five-year plan was presented simply for the committee's review at this time. Moore said the committee will meet again to discuss the proposals. The Anderson City Council would have to approve any equipment purchases before the items could be bought.

"This is for ya'll to be thinking about," Moore said. "We simply want you to know where we stand financially."